I absolutely love teaching. I can’t
think of anything more rewarding than seeing the children learn and progress
because of something that I have done. I prepare all of my own lesson plans
from scratch, and create all of my own materials and resources.
I have three different classes at
the moment; A class of older children aged 4-6, there are around 25 children in
this class and the number is growing as the weeks go by. There are then two
classes of younger children; aged 2-3, each class has around 25+ children
[trying to control a class of 20 two/three year olds who don’t understand a
word you are saying, is most definitely as hard as it sounds!].
I realised quite quickly how much
more I prefer working with the older children than with the younger ones.
Classes with the babies can be fun; they are incredibly adorable, and they do
the funniest things. But, I find that classes with the older children are a
million times more rewarding, as well as more engaging and fun. I struggle to
create lesson plans for the younger children, and can sometimes find it a chore.
I am very restricted by what games and activities I can play because of the
rather strict way the classrooms are run, and so classes are becoming
repetitive. The Chinese teachers want the young children to stay seated at all
times, and anytime I get them up and excited to play/dance, the Chinese
teachers make all the children sit back down. With the older class however, I have
free reign, and I love thinking of ideas for our lessons, I can be as creative
as I like, and I always look forward to delivering my lessons with them. I spend hours of my days off searching for
useful material, and creating worksheets/resources for them, and I enjoy doing
so. The other teachers at the school have praised my teaching methods, and the
children always seem excited for my lessons.
I have definitely learned that
teaching very young children is not right for me, but it is proving to be an
interesting experience and I have still learned lots from my lessons with the
babies. I feel more passionately now, about completing a PGCE in Primary
education when I return to the UK, and I look forward to a career in Teaching.
The one thing I do not like about
teaching here in China is the way the schools are run and organised. Of course I
anticipated a different approach to education and learning when I came here,
and although I fully respect their own customs and ways of doing things, I do
not feel they are something I could deal with on a daily basis as a long-term
career. One aspect of the school day is that in a 10 hour day (The Chinese teachers
are at school for 11-13 hours every day!), the children actually only have about 3
hours’ worth of actual lesson time, the rest of the day is spent eating and
sleeping. This involves a lot of standing around, and can be very boring for us
teachers. The most frustrating aspect of the way the school is run, is the strict code of conduct, there are many rules; most of which inhibit fun and exciting ways of learning.
The School day:
8am-9.15am: The children have breakfast
9.15am-10am – lesson time
10am-10.15am – fruit break
10.15am -11am – lesson time
11am-12pm – The children have lunch
12pm-2.30pm – Nap time
2.30pm-3pm – snack time
3pm-4pm – lesson time
4pm-5pm – dinner time
5pm-6pm – children go home at all different times during this hour
My Lessons:
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